


From Sugar And Ice

by Jellycho



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Friendship, Gen, getting past the angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:11:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1285648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellycho/pseuds/Jellycho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isa, after, has trouble reconnecting with people, but that doesn't mean he doesn't try.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Sugar And Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Once I thought how cool it'd be to write something about post KH3 Isa and his friendship with girls so I wrote it. This is quite headcanon heavy, but it's not a problem. It's also quite old but who cares right?

He supposes this habit came to be somewhere after his release from the darkness.

Sometimes he’ll get anxious. Cranky, even, and he’ll drop what he’s doing and find some place to run away to. He’ll take with him his knitting materials, avoid everyone on the way that  _dares_  even question him about it, and then he’ll sit down on the ground and begin working on something small and new.

Isa has been doing this for as long as he can remember. 

Today is one of those days. Materials in hand, Isa walks as fast as he can without running to his usual spot in the ‘garden’, — it’s a meadow, really — hidden behind tree trunks and sheltered from the sun with their foliage. 

He doesn’t really expect to find his spot already taken. Isa at least manages to hold back his surprised yelp, but the startled jump still makes itself present.

Sitting against the trees is a young girl he feels like he barely knows. Her long blond hair moves on her shoulder when she looks up to him, and those piercing blue eyes tell him that even though she’s startled as well, no real damage has been done.

"I’m sorry," he splutters. "Have I scared you?"

Naminé smiles gently, tells him that yes, he did, but it’s okay and she doesn’t mind. Isa really doesn’t dare question her as to why she is here; really, he’s one to talk. The awkward silence stretches on, and he watches as her gaze moves from his face to the rest of their surroundings before finally resting on what is on his hands.

He expects laughter. He expects her to make fun of him for his choice of a hobby, but, instead, what comes from Naminé’s mouth is a joyous little gasp.

"You know how to knit?" she asks him. Her voice is quiet, curious and soft, just like the rest of her personality. Embarrassed, Isa keeps his eyes on her as she looks down to the sketchbook on her knees, as she plays with her hands in a nervous manner.

He’s about to speak when she looks back up to him. “Would it… would it be okay if you taught me?”

Isa doesn’t know what compels him to agree, to sit down on the grass and give her his spare needles and yarn. Nor does he know why he spends so much time patiently instructing the young artist on the way of the knitting needle, all the way until sunset is almost over and the two have to return home.

But the next day, without even needing the impulse of anxiousness to take him there, Isa walks slowly to his usual spot in the meadow behind their house, carrying twice the materials this time.

* * *

Sometimes Sora and his friends come visit them.

It shouldn’t be a surprise. Roxas, Naminé, and Xion  _do_  live here after all, and the teenagers need to keep in touch in one way or another. The house becomes even livelier when they come over; games and loud conversations take place for as long as their stay lasts, and Isa almost misses the peaceful silence of every other day.

On one of those visits, Kairi arrives first. 

By chance, Isa is the only one at home that day, and is therefore the one to greet her. The two don’t usually cross ways often, — Isa is pretty much avoiding her, and Kairi can tell — but she at least informs him that her usual companions will be arriving late.

"It’s kinda funny," Kairi tries to small talk. "Halfway through the way here Sora realized he was missing his stuff. Riku couldn’t believe it, but they went back to get it anyway. Riku left me his bag, though."

Isa replies with a grunt. He doesn’t know what to say, what _not_  to say, and there’s a strange lump in his throat forbidding any word from coming out anyway. So the less he has to talk, the better.

Guilt sure is a terrible thing.

Kairi tries, though. She clears her throat and thinks of another subject, meanwhile Isa helps her carry her bags up the stairs to the guest room she will be occupying.

He hears a sigh behind him and doesn’t even dare turn around when the Princess of Heart speaks. “You’re a nice host, Isa, but you should try talking to your guests a little more.”

Isa chokes, peeks shyly at her from over his shoulder. “…Am I?” he asks in a low voice after a few seconds, and it’s almost as if he were testing the waters.

It makes her laugh. “Yeah. You’re extremely helpful, and you always make sure we’re having a nice time.” She frowns a little, putting on a shy expression of compassion before continuing. “But really, it’d be nice to get to know _Isa_.”

"…I see."

Silence settles in between them again until they reach the room. Kairi makes herself at home, like always, unpacks a little here and there before she announces that her work is done. Isa walks by her open door, smiles awkwardly and offers her something to eat while she waits.

And she laughs again, obviously satisfied and enjoying herself. 

They decide to bake pastries together, talk the afternoon away until the doorbell finally rings and the other guests arrive accompanied by Lea and his three protégés. Kairi leaves him to reunite with her friends, and Isa takes this as his cue to disappear and go do something on his own.

Yet when he leaves the room, he doesn’t forget to utter a small thank you to the Princess when it feels like part of an entire weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

Isa likes to read sometimes. When he’s in the mood for it he’ll find a comfortable spot on the sofa, curl up into himself and devour words and pages with ease.

Which is exactly what he’s doing right now. He’s almost done with this particular book, and even if he doesn’t really show it on the outside, he’s completely excited about finishing. He shifts in his place, licks his lips, grabs the page and turns it as quickly as he can so that he may  _finish_ -

"Isa!" 

-and almost drops the book when he feels two small and delicate hands drop down on his shoulders.

“ _Xion!_ " he hisses, removing his reading glasses and looking up to the girl in question. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Xion’s smiling face framed with black hair looks down at him. “You said you’d take me out today.” 

"I’m reading." 

"You can read any other time. Today we’re going out."

Isa almost pouts at her, almost curls up further into his mess of a blanket fort he’s built on the sofa in protest. But in the end he really can’t; he didn’t just say that, he _promised_  Xion they’d walk around.

A promise is a promise, no matter how silly, and he intends to keep it.

So he gets up, tells her to get ready, watches her screech in happiness and leave. He goes upstairs to come out of his comfy reading clothes he calls  _pyjamas_ , brushes his messy now-short hair and sighs lazily.

He’s not surprised when he comes down and finds her waiting by the entrance. “So where are we going, Isa? The station plaza? The clock tower? Oh, but I heard there was a mall somewhere in this town. I’ve never been that far in. Can we go check out the mall?”

Isa can’t hide the smile her excitement causes. “We’ll go anywhere you want to, My Lady. I am at your service for today.” 

It makes her laugh when he gives her a long, excessive bow like a butler ready to serve his master. She declares herself a queen, then, and Isa her loyal maid despite the latter’s protests at such a title.

In the end their afternoon is spent in aimlessly exploring the town. They enjoy the sights; the architecture of the buildings, the passing of time and the colours it brings, the sounds, the smells, absolutely everything that makes them both feel free and alive.  

Hours later, it is only fitting that they settle down on a bench to watch the sunset.

The air is warm and calming. It makes Isa smile and close his eyes, bask in the last rays of sunlight and lose himself in an overwhelming feeling of tranquillity he has not experienced since he was a teenager.

"Isa."

Xion’s quiet voice almost startles him. “Thank you for keeping your promise. I’m glad I got to spend the day with you,” she says, setting both of her deep blue eyes on him and smiling warmly.

He could cry, really. The one person who he feels he’s wronged the most in the world is sitting next to him, expressing gratitude and placing her hand on his arm like an old friend.

The weight of those words causes him to turn his face back to the sun. “…You’re welcome,” he barely whispers, setting his hand over the girl’s and squeezing gently before standing.

"Let’s go home."

And on the way back, to Xion’s surprise and pride, Isa purchases four ice creams instead of the usual three he always brings home.

* * *

If Isa had a say in the matter, he would never leave the house. He’d stay inside to knit and read, bake if he feels like it, just wasting time in the comfortable silence of their home by the meadow.

But, of course, Lea and the children will not allow him to be a shut-in.

So they travel this time, out from their home in the outskirts of Twilight Town and to the world where Terra, Aqua, and Ventus have settled together.

After their small meeting during the war with Xehanort a few years ago, Ventus and Roxas had become friends. It was an event sparked mostly because of the eerie similarity in their appearance.

Isa himself has developed a sort of bond with the female in the trio. “It’s a nice day,” he says, finding himself alone with the woman in question in her garden, holding a small blue teacup in his hands.

"It sure is."

Aqua’s voice is joyful, content. She pauses for a moment when she brings her cup to her lips. “How have you been, Isa? Naminé told me you taught her how to knit.”

He has trouble not spitting out the drink right there. “She did?”

A laugh. “She showed me first, actually. She made me a lovely blue scarf, though I could notice it was her first.”

Aqua turns her head to him, and Isa can see a deep compassion in her eyes. The very same compassion that had greeted and calmed him years ago, when he first tasted freedom and when he began to feel the guilt.

Mostly, her eyes tell him a story with a happy ending, but otherwise full of grief. He knows that she had been the one to sympathize the most with Lea, the one to calm and encourage him not to give up in his journey for his friends, if only because she had been in the same spot herself.

If there is one person, besides Lea, who Isa has come to love and appreciate as a close friend, it is Aqua. Her calm and forgiving nature has helped the pair reconnect, her experience with the darkness’ destroying clutches brought them both to closure and an understanding.

She is a close friend of them both. One to mediate and guide them, and no word he can think of can fully express the enormous  _gratitude_  that Isa feels toward her.

He smiles warmly, chuckles. “I merely instructed her,” he says, turning his gaze to the flowery area and sitting back on the garden chair he is occupying. 

He takes a sip of his own warm, sugary drink, and softly realizes how lately he’s been spending most of his time in gardens.


End file.
